The best at what it does

Rating: 9/10 (18 August 2013)

Like so many others, I was drawn to this movie by Guillermo del Toro alone, or rather, the unexpected combination of del Toro and the mecha-kaiju genre. I even took my wife along, figuring there wouldn't be a lot of gore but a lot of mind-blowing action sequences instead. Damn, we weren't disappointed!
This movie is like no other. If you've appreciated The Host, Cloverfield, Godzilla, and the like, you will love Pacific Rim. But even if you're just looking for powerful mecha action sequences, this movie does it far better than any Transformer movie or even animes like Evangelion. And finally, and that's really del Toro's touch, even if you're not a fan of the mecha-kaiju genre at all, which my wife isn't, you'll find a lot to love in this movie.
The directing is great as always, the depth of every character is just enough to make them truly likable, on top of that the actors are surprisingly good, particularly Rinko Kikuchi and the little girl - which we see only too little - which portrays her younger self, some scenes - like the one with the younger Mako as a matter of fact - are to be remembered as classics, the SFX are beautiful, state of the art, and don't spoil the almost artistic quality of certain scenes by trying to push too far, and the scenario is extremely smart and mostly coherent from beginning to end.
There are a few inconsistencies in the script and a few clichés that weren't really necessary - especially considering how many many other clichés Pacific Rim brilliantly avoids or twists - for which I remove one star, but just one. Because other than that, this movie is so close to perfection. The best piece of kaiju action ever to hit the screen. And one of the best action movies of the decade.